If you’re not from New England, you may have no idea who Kingston 530 is, nor do you care. But you should care and begin listening to their music.

“Why should I care?” say the readers from North Dakota, Hawaii and Alabama. I’ll tell you why! This Boston writer predicts that Kingston 530 will one day be this country’s new “It” band; they’ll be performing the half-time show during the Super Bowl (okay, so it’s not this year’s Super Bowl …”Go Pats!”). They are so different than another popular Boston band from yesterday and were even more well known in Beantown.Do you know what band I’m talking about? Heard of Aerosmith, anyone?

Kingston 530’s musical style resembles Matchbox Twenty’s style, not Steven Tyler’s band, but like Aerosmith, they have a powerful stage presence, electrifying energy, and enthusiasm. If you’re lucky enough to be in the audience, you can’t help but smile or move to the music when they begin their first set. The fun they have on stage is contagious. Ask anyone who has had the pleasure of watching this group perform.

The last difference between this Boston band and yesterday’s top Boston band (and this goes out to “all the single [young] ladies”, is that Chris Ferrara, Kingston 530’s lead singer, is way cuter than Steven Tyler ever was in his 20s … sorry Steven.

Already, the Boston Globe has dubbed them “One of Boston’s Hottest Bands” and they were referred to as “the band to watch in 2011” by Boston Music Spotlight.

This Friday, January 27, 2012, the talented and young five-man band (Chris Ferrara, Kevin Sullivan, Ben Caccia, Shaun O’Loughlin, and Mike Dawley) will be performing at Boston’s Hard Rock Cafe. It’s a red carpet event and there will be other artists performing, but this night is special for the group. Let’s just say it’s their musical Bar Mitzvah, their rite of passage. The group will be releasing their new album, appropriately titled, Long Time Coming. Recently, I had the chance to talk with Kingston 530 and here is my interview with the band:

Where did you get the name, Kingston 530, and how did your band form?

Chris and Sully first started writing together at the University of Rhode Island. “Kingston” came from the location of URI; the college is in Kingston RI. “530” came from the time in the morning that they finished writing their first song together. This song ended up being the fourth track on this album called “Tonight.”

Who would you say is your band’s #1 top musical influence?

Having very different musical backgrounds, we all have very different musical influences. They range from Dream Theater all the way to Justin Timberlake. That’s what gives us our unique sound. We all bring those influences into our music.

Think of The Foo Fighters and The Barenaked Ladies having a kid. That kid went to school with Rob Thomas and liked to hang out with Dave Matthews. After school, he’d listen to Santana on his iPod. Get what I’m trying to say?

I had the good fortune of seeing your band open for the Gin Blossoms at the Pine Hills in Plymouth, MA for their Concert on the Green series in September of 2010. Your band has great energy and the songs are all well written. Why did you choose Long Time Coming as the cover title for your debut album?

Well, thank you for the compliments. We really appreciate it when people listen to the lyrics and connect to them and we want to have fun on stage with our audience because we want our music to make people feel good. As for the title of the album, we chose Long Time Coming for a few reasons. We think it really embodies what the Kingston 530 sound is. Another reason is that it seemingly took forever to make Long Time Coming, because it is our debut and we wanted everything to be as close to perfect or the way that we wanted everything to sound as possible. And probably the most important reason is that it truly is the realization of a dream. Every one of the members of Kingston 530 has dreamed about recording an album that they can call their own and be proud of. This is that album for us.

My favorite song during that 2010 concert was “Carry On.” Because of that song, I was inspired to write about your group in my “Move Over Aerosmith: Kingston 530 Has Landed” article. Who wrote that song and what was the inspiration behind it?

The article that you wrote really blew us away. Of course we aim to have our music impact fans and have it register with them, but after reading that article, the point was really driven home that we can connect with the people that listen to our music in a very real way.

When Sully and Chris sat down to write the lyrics to this song, there was a specific goal in mind. They wanted to tell a story about real people going through some real tough times. They heard a lot of finger pointing and blaming going on about the harder times that have hit the U.S. and they just wanted to restore a sense of confidence that no matter the circumstances of any situation, you can get back up and step forward because there aren’t very many alternatives. You either succeed or not, and it’s up to you to do so; that’s what “Carry On” is about and we couldn’t be happier with the way people have received it. It’s easily a fan favorite at all of our shows.

The Boston Globe has dubbed you “One of Boston’s Hottest Bands” and you perform frequently at the Hard Rock Café in Boston, where in 2010 you placed as one of the top 3 bands in the nation for their Hard Rock Calling Ambassadors of Rock Competition. What have been some other memorable highs for your band? Any lows during your journey?

There are always things that every successful band needs to grow through in order to get to where they want to go. We’ve certainly had to grow in the last year with the process of producing a debut album and adjusting to becoming a player in the Boston music scene. To be honest, that has only helped define us as a group and develop our character.

We’ve also had some incredible highs over the last couple of years. Stemming from the Hard Rock Calling Competition, we’ve been able to share the stage with artists like the Gin Blossoms, Scott Stapp from Creed, Edwin McCain, and Howie Day. We’ve also had the opportunity to play in NYC for the first time and really experience how we’d be received away from home. However, the biggest thing for us is the release of our album! We couldn’t be more excited to have something for fans to listen to and hopefully gain more momentum with acquiring new fans.

You are Ambassadors for the Music Drives Us Foundation. Can you explain to our readers what that means and tell us a little about this organization’s work?

Being an ambassador to the Music Drives Us Foundation is something that we’re extremely proud of. Their mission is to raise awareness, provide instruments, and raise funds for music education programs all across Massachusetts. We wouldn’t be where we are without having music in our lives and it’s important for us to share that gift with as many people as we can. We’ve played at fundraisers for MDU and hopefully this year, we’ll be more hands-on, seeing music education programs benefit from MDU first-hand, inside the classroom.

Being from the Boston area, I read recently that there is a red carpet event planned for January 27, 2012 at the Hard Rock Café in Boston. You will be one of the bands performing and this is where you’ll be officially launching your debut album, Long Time Coming. What does this event mean to you?

This is the single, biggest event that we’ve put on. The event is called “The Long Time Coming Album Release Benefit.” We’re taking the opportunity to not only officially release our debut album Long Time Coming, but we are also partnering with the Music Drives Us Foundation and donating all of the proceeds of this release to benefit their mission. This is the culmination of every day spent being a musician for us. This is the biggest possible deal for Kingston 530 and we want as many people to be there as possible!

What does Boston’s Hard Rock Café have planned for this big night?

We’ve gone all out for this event! We’re really excited about it because we have Kennedy from Mix 104.1 coming to emcee! There will be a silent auction which will feature items like an autographed cymbal by The Fray, VIP concert tickets, Harbor Cruise tickets, etc.

There will be five unbelievable acts performing throughout the night. We have raffles and prizes along with some great sponsors and some fan activities planned, so it really is going to be the biggest event so far this year! It is 21+ and you can get tickets at showkicker.ticketleap.com/kingston530.

You can purchase Long Time Coming as well as your admission into the event by selecting the best valued $20 premium admission ticket. Be sure to print it out and bring it with you so you can get your album copy!